NEW dilemma.....

[glockjs]

it's come that time that i need to add a hdd. the space i have isnt enough anymore. the problem is that i want to go sata(seagate 200gb) but my mobo doesnt have sata onboard

so i first started looking at sata controller cards. seems like the simplest solution right? well i found this one. looks pretty good. not bad for the price. well a few scrolls down for $5 more they have this listed...

now i know its a refurb but still a solid mobo runnin kt880 for $5 more? prices have just gotten stupid. right now im runnin a shuttle nforce 2 which is...eh...at best.

so i guess it's not really a dilemma unless somebody can give me a really good reason not to go for the mobo

[Zisguy1]

Main reason I can think of not to get the MB is the possibility of having to reinstall the OS or running into other OS-related probs associated with changing MB's. Doesn't seem worth it to me unless you're upgrading CPU + RAM at the same time.

[glockjs]

Main reason I can think of not to get the MB is the possibility of having to reinstall the OS or running into other OS-related probs associated with changing MB's. Doesn't seem worth it to me unless you're upgrading CPU + RAM at the same time.

xp does a pretty good job of recognizing everything. i might just to a fresh OS install. cpu and ram are up to date so no reason to buy new. i dunno though. like u said it's a pain in the ass

[reboot]

Install the new hardware. Run XP setup as a new install. Right after you press F8 to agree to the TOS, you'll get prompted to "Repair a current installation". Hit "R", and let it repair.
Done.
We do this 4 or 5 times a day at work, on customer's computers, with no troubles.

[glockjs]

Install the new hardware. Run XP setup as a new install. Right after you press F8 to agree to the TOS, you'll get prompted to "Repair a current installation". Hit "R", and let it repair.
Done.
We do this 4 or 5 times a day at work, on customer's computers, with no troubles.

cool thanks. makes sense to me. awhile back i put it so that repair proggy runs on every boot. it's on the hdd. so should be no trouble.

[reboot]

The first thing you do after running the repair, is to install all the drivers for the new mobo from the CD that came with it.
We're ripping out Asus P3B-F's, MSI/Duron combo's, and a ton of junk, replacing with a lot of Kt4 and Kt8's, and this works every time.
A little time consuming, but we haven't had a system OS failure yet.

[glockjs]

is it not better to uninstall everything before putting the new mobo in?


NEW DILEMMA...


ok so i was originally looking at the sata 200gb seagate

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-033&depa=1

BUT i kept looking through the refurb section of newegg hehe and found

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-152-015R&type=Refurbished


so i can get 2 of the 160gb samsungs and run a raid setup for the same price as 1 200gb seagate..

[reboot]

You could uninstall it all, but we've found (through hundreds of these upgrades) that it's not necessary.
XP is very forgiving of this, and the only hassle encountered is the re-authorization, or whatever MS calls it, because of a major hardware change.
If you're going to run RAID, what type?
I find that redundant IDE raid setups are a waste of time and space. Better to use the drives independently.

[glockjs]

You could uninstall it all, but we've found (through hundreds of these upgrades) that it's not necessary.
XP is very forgiving of this, and the only hassle encountered is the re-authorization, or whatever MS calls it, because of a major hardware change.
If you're going to run RAID, what type?
I find that redundant IDE raid setups are a waste of time and space. Better to use the drives independently.

cool. thanks for the info.

they're sata drive's. i'd run a raid 0

[glockjs]

nevermind. newegg took off the refurbed samsungs im a day too late. so i guess im getting the seagate